If you’ve ever stood on a street corner and felt the ground shake as a Fat Boy idled nearby, you know the Harley-Davidson brand isn't just about transportation. It’s a culture. But for folks watching the ticker symbol HOG on the New York Stock Exchange, that rumble has felt a bit more like a stomach churn lately.
Honestly, the harley davidson stock price history is a wilder ride than a cross-country trip on a Road King with a loose kickstand.
Since going public in 1986, the company has seen it all. We’re talking about a stock that started as a penny-pinching micro-cap and grew into a multi-billion dollar juggernaut, only to spend the last decade trying to figure out how to sell motorcycles to a generation that seems more interested in e-bikes and ride-sharing.
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The Early Days: When HOG Was a Rocket Ship
Most people don’t realize how cheap this stock actually was. Back in July 1986, if you were brave enough to bet on a company that had nearly gone bankrupt just five years prior, you could have picked up shares for a split-adjusted price of roughly $0.01.
Yeah, you read that right. One cent.
By the early 90s, the "Hog" was flying. The company couldn’t build bikes fast enough. There were literally waiting lists at dealerships. This era was the golden age for the harley davidson stock price history. Between 1990 and 2000, the company executed five separate 2-for-1 stock splits.
- June 18, 1990
- June 29, 1992
- September 13, 1994
- September 29, 1997
- April 10, 2000
If you held 100 shares in early 1990, you suddenly had 3,200 shares by the turn of the millennium. The price per share soared from under a dollar to over $40 in that decade. It was the ultimate "lifestyle" investment.
The 2008 Crash vs. The 2020 Pivot
Then came the Great Recession. This was a brutal reality check. Because Harley-Davidson has a massive financial services arm (HDFS), they aren't just a bike maker; they’re basically a bank on wheels. When the credit markets froze in 2008, HOG stock plummeted from around $60 in 2006 to a terrifying low of roughly $8 in early 2009.
They survived, barely, thanks to a massive loan from Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway and some heavy lifting by then-CEO Keith Wandell.
Fast forward to the 2020 pandemic. You’d think a lockdown would kill a motorcycle company, right? Weirdly, it did the opposite for a while. People had stimulus checks and a desperate need to get out of the house. The stock, which had bottomed out around $15 in March 2020, went on a tear, hitting nearly $50 by mid-2021.
But that "outdoor boom" was a bit of a mirage. As interest rates climbed in 2023 and 2024, the cost of financing a $30,000 CVO Road Glide became a dealbreaker for many.
The LiveWire Gamble and the Modern Struggle
One of the most controversial chapters in the harley davidson stock price history happened in late 2022. Harley spun off its electric motorcycle division, LiveWire (LVWR), through a SPAC merger.
Initially, the market loved it. HOG shares jumped 20% on the news. But the reality of electric motorcycles has been... slow. LiveWire has struggled with volume, shipping only 236 units in Q4 2024. That’s not a typo. Two hundred and thirty-six.
For the parent company, HOG, this has meant navigating a weird middle ground. They’re trying to keep the chrome-and-gas traditionalists happy while proving to Wall Street they won't be extinct in twenty years.
Where Does the Price Sit Today?
As we move through 2026, the stock is in a bit of a funk. On January 16, 2026, HOG closed at $20.49. That’s a long way off from its all-time high of $75+ back in 2006.
Why the slide? It’s a mix of things:
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- Tariffs: New or increased tariffs in 2025 cost the company about $27 million in just one quarter.
- Inventory: Dealers are sitting on too many bikes, forcing the company to cut shipments.
- Demographics: The "Core Customer" is aging out, and the younger crowd isn't buying heavy cruisers at the same rate.
What Most Investors Get Wrong
Investors often look at Harley and think they're buying a manufacturing company.
You’re not.
You’re buying a brand that happens to own a bank. In Q3 2025, while motorcycle shipments were up 33% year-over-year, the real story was in the Financial Services (HDFS) segment. They completed a massive $1.9 billion transaction to offload finance receivables, which pumped $1.2 billion in cash back into the business.
This "capital-light" strategy is what the current CEO, Jochen Zeitz, is betting the house on. He wants to de-risk the company so it doesn't get crushed the next time the economy hits a pothole.
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Key Takeaways for Your Portfolio
If you're looking at the harley davidson stock price history and wondering if it's a "buy the dip" moment, keep these three things in mind:
- The Yield is Real: Harley has a long history of paying dividends. Even in the current slump, they’ve been paying out about $0.18 per share quarterly. For a stock priced around $20, that's a solid yield for income seekers.
- The Brand is Resilient: Despite the stock price woes, the brand still commands premium pricing. They aren't trying to sell the most bikes anymore; they're trying to sell the most profitable bikes.
- Watch the Fed: Since so many Harleys are financed, the stock is incredibly sensitive to interest rates. If rates stay high, the stock will likely stay under pressure.
To really get a handle on where HOG is going, you need to look past the leather jackets and look at the HDFS balance sheet. That’s where the real story of the harley davidson stock price history is written.
Actionable Next Steps
- Check the P/E Ratio: Currently, HOG is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of about 4.97. That is historically very low, suggesting the market is pricing in a major recession or a permanent decline. Compare this to the S&P 500 average to see the "value gap."
- Monitor LiveWire (LVWR) Shipments: If Harley is going to transition to the next generation, LiveWire needs to scale. Watch for those quarterly unit shipment numbers to cross the 1,000 mark.
- Review Dealer Inventory Levels: High inventory usually leads to deep discounts, which kills profit margins. If you see news about "inventory normalization," that's usually a bullish sign for the stock.
- Evaluate Debt-to-Equity: Harley carries a lot of debt due to its financial services arm. Make sure the "Motorcycle" side of the business stays separate from the "Bank" side in your analysis to avoid getting spooked by big numbers.